If you haven’t read “An Unbelievable Story of Rape” published by ProPublica, you should. Though, it does constitute a warning, it is graphic and can be triggering.

In lecture, we talked about how journalists should be open and transparent about their reporting process, and I think this story was well done in that the journalists were honest and open about their reporting. For example, they pointed out who refused to interview for the story. Another place was when they wrote “There are no firm statistics on how often police arrest women for making false rape reports, nor on how often prosecutors take such cases to court. Nobody collects such data.” I think this point also highlights the rarity of false rape reports and how rare this situation was for all those involved.

Overall, I thought the pacing of this piece was incredible. The change in pace and rhythm of the piece was well done and almost reflected the pace of how this case and investigation unfolded— a lot happened in the first few days then it phased out, and then picked back up again. The syntax of the sentences itself reflected the action and was definitely well done. Small details like one investigator’s coffee order made the piece more cinematic as well and painted the picture of what was happening. The writing definitely brings the story to life and the small details helped paint that picture.